Improvement in air-filters for houses



E. N. DICKE RSON. Air-Filter for House.

Patented Jan. 22 I878.

N.FETERS, PNOTd-UTHOGRAPNER. WASHINGTON. D C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD N. DIOKERSON, on NEW YonK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT lN AlR-FlLlj'ERS FOR HOUSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 199,357, dated January22, 1878 application filed k December 1, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD N. DICKER- SON, of the city and county of NewYork, State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement inAir- Filters for Houses, of which the following is a full, true, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying, drawings.

The filtration of air which is breathed by the inhabitants of houses isa matter of the greatest importance, and it has long been recognized asa scientific fact that air is a vehicle for the support and transfer ofmany particles and bodies, both organic and inorganic, which are verydeleterious to animal life. This is particularly the case where men arecrowded together, as in cities, and where sewer-gas and other noxiousvapors are continually arising from animal products, and carrying withthem deleterious particles.

It is also probably true that the germs of many diseases in the form ofliving animalcules are supported and carried about by the atmosphere,and with the entering air find an entrance to the innermost parts of ourhouses. It is to shut off these "deleterious particles,as well as thedust of the street, that I have devised my air-filter. It isrecognizedas a scientific fact that a layer or stratum of loose cottonor cotton-wool will strain out or filter from air drawn through it allparticles of any appreciable size; and, what is still more curious, ithas been discovered that a person wearing a mask of such .wool can, withimpunity, enterthe presence of the most infectious diseases, in whichrespect a filter composed of loose fiber differs from a filter offine-wire net-work or other similar contrivance.

My invention consists, generally, in the introduction of a layer ordiaphragm of cottonwool into the air-passages of a house, and combiningtherewith heating-coils in such a way that a forced circulation is madethrough the filtering-diaphragm, and the heated air is subsequentlyallowed to escape into the house properly warmed and freed from allimpurity. I find it advantageous to use a separate filter for each flue,and to place these filters in a horizontal position, so that anyparticles which may be caught-in the diaphragm can be readily shaken outtherefrom and removed in the form of dust from the receiver beneath.

My apparatus is also contrived for the ready substitution of a freshdiaphragm of cotton for one in use.

My invention can be readily understood from the accompanying drawings,in which similar letters refer to similar parts.

Figure 1 represents a vertical cross-section of my apparatus; Fig. 2, ahorizontal crosssection through the line as m.

The whole apparatus is made practically air-tight by means of the casingW.

B represents the entering-air passage connected with the external air,the arrows showin g, generally, the direction of the entering air. Erepresents screens for the purpose of containing and supporting thecotton-bat. These screens can be of tin, pierced with numerous holes; ora wire-net can be suitably employed. Between the upper and lower screensE is represented the cotton-wool F. Above the diaphragms in theair-passages are situated coils O O O C; but any equivalent heatedsurface could be employed.

By means of the horizontal and vertical partitions, (clearly shown inthe drawing,) the entering air is forced to traverse the filter andstraining-diaphragm F, and subsequently to pass through theheating-coils and ascend through the flues V, whence it escapes throughregister-valves B.

By placing the coil 0 above the diaphragms I make, a forced circulation,owing to the difference in weight of the columns of air within andwithout the house.

In order that the best effects be obtained from this apparatus, it isadvisable that the house he made as air-tight as possible, so that noair can enter excepting through the chamber A.

Ventilators should be, of course, employed to carry off the heated airat the roof.

It is plain that the coil 0 might be placed either above or below thediaphragms F; but

by means of the present contrivance, in which each flue is provided witha separate diaphragm and heater, a more even distribution of the airwithin the house is obtained.

The upper screen E might be dispensed with What I claim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of a diaphragm, F, composed of cotton-Wool, placedWithin the airpassage of a house, and a heater, 0, whereby the enteringair is filtered and heated While at the same time a forced circulationis maintained, substantially as described.

2. In combination withv the closed chamber A, the series of 'diaphragmsF, composed of cotton-wool, each arranged Within its own airpassage,whereby an equal distribution of air is obtained, substantially asdescribed.

3. In combination with the closed chamber A, the series offiltering-diaphragms F and heaters O, a diaphragm and heater beinglocated in each flue, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. In combination with the air-passage of a house, a filter, E, composedof cotton-wool or equivalent material, the heater 0, and valve It,substantially as described.

EDW. N. DIOKERSON.

Witnesses:

E. N. DICKERSON, Jr., '1. H. HARRAH.

